


After the Storm Comes a Rainbow

by BanishingShadows



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-13
Updated: 2017-07-13
Packaged: 2018-12-01 17:51:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11491542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BanishingShadows/pseuds/BanishingShadows
Summary: Left to deal with the aftermath of events that transpired in "Let's Pretend We're Strangers," Nicole struggles with her feelings about her relationship with Waverly.





	After the Storm Comes a Rainbow

Completely devastated. That was a perfect description of how Nicole felt when she checked her text messages two hours before her shift was over and discovered that Waverly had canceled their dinner plans an hour ago.

Their relationship had felt off at times over the past seven weeks and until last night, she hadn't known that a damn demon had been possessing her girlfriend. Nicole knew something wasn't right with Waverly, but she chalked it up to her having lost Willa a second time. The fact she missed that something had been controlling Waverly made her feel like such a shitty girlfriend. She swore she’d protect Waverly from harm and had completely failed. That was why the dinner she’d planned was so important. She wanted a chance to apologize for her shortcomings and to see if they could get past them together.

Seeing Waverly’s name show up on her phone was enough to make her break out into a smile from ear to ear, popping out her dimples to their fullest extent. She had been waiting all evening to see if her girlfriend would call or come over despite her earlier text that she wouldn't be able to. However much she wished to hear Waverly’s sweet voice, she almost regretted having answered now.

If she hadn’t picked up the phone, she would’ve been spared from the knot of anxiety that currently sat like a rock in the pit of her stomach. If only she had gone to bed after the weather report, her heart wouldn't be in her throat and her skin wouldn't be covered in a cold sweat despite the temperature inside being toasty warm. If only she hadn’t decided to stay up for another half hour in hopes that Waverly would call, she wouldn't be wearing a hole in the carpet of her living room as she nervously paced back and forth as she replayed their short conversation in her mind over and over again.

Waverly was upset. She wasn't yelling or crying, but it didn't take being in law enforcement to realize that something was wrong by the tone of her voice. She spoke softly and with as few words as possible, which was completely unlike the bubbly woman who would ramble on about something or other every time they spoke. Nicole had seen it a few times over the course of their relationship and it terrified her every time. Nothing good had ever come from a disheartened Waverly.

The stiff knock on the door rang out like a gunshot in the all too quiet apartment and had Nicole reaching down for her firearm. It took her a second to realize she was in her pajamas and that the noise was caused by Waverly. She silently cursed herself for her overreaction as she walked the short distance to let her girlfriend in.

Upon opening the door, Nicole found Waverly staring mournfully down at her feet and the sight made her heart ache with worry. She quickly wrapped an arm around the brunette’s shoulders and led her inside, hooking her left leg around the door and shutting it with her foot. “Baby, what’s wrong?”

Waverly didn’t say a word as she shrugged off Nicole’s embrace and proceeded to take her coat off, draping it over the armrest before taking a seat on the couch. With a frown, Nicole followed and stood beside her with great apprehension.

“Waves?”

It took a moment for Waverly to speak, but when she did, she sounded incredibly lost. “Nothing is ever going to be the same again.”

Nicole fell to her knees in front of Waverly and took a hold of her hands, interlacing their fingers. “Oh, Baby, everything will be alright,” she tried to reassure Waverly as well as herself.

“No, Nicole, you don't understand,” Waverly stated with a heavy sigh.

“Then tell me. Make me understand,” Nicole all but pleaded.

“I can’t.”

Those two little words were like a punch to the gut and sucked all of the air out of Nicole’s lungs. She sat back on her legs and looked at their joined hands before she let them go and put her hands in her lap. “I get it. It’s Black Badge,” she said sadly then with more bite, “It’s always Black Badge.”

“Yes and no.”

Nicole hadn't expected to find out that what was bothering Waverly involved something other than Black Badge. She lifted her eyes to Waverly’s in hope of being allowed to help, but that hope quickly died when Waverly made eye contact with her.

“I can’t tell you what’s going on because it isn't my place to tell,” Waverly finally replied.

“If you can’t tell me anything, why’d you come here?”

There was a hint of anger to the question and it wasn't lost on Waverly. “I came here because you’re my girlfriend. Isn't your girlfriend supposed to offer you comfort and support when you find your world caving in on you?”

“Yeah, I’m your girlfriend, but you don’t trust me enough to actually let me in to help you,” Nicole huffed.

“Hey, that’s not fair!” Waverly protested.

“You want to talk about fair?” Nicole said as she got to her feet, her hurt, frustration, and anger finally letting loose as her voice rose. “I’ve been left in the dark by you about the whole Earp Curse since the day we started dating! I had to find out about it from Doc Freaking Holliday and when Dolls finally deputizes me, you took it away from me!”

“I did it to protect you! Why can’t you get that?” Waverly shouted back as she stood herself, putting herself toe to toe with Nicole.

“I don't need your protection!” Nicole shouted back.

“And you think that I need yours? You haven't exactly done a good job of it anyway!”

Nicole recoiled as if she had been slapped in the face. Waverly’s words were like a knife to her heart. She couldn't help the tears that stung her eyes and she lowered her head so Waverly wouldn't see them as they slid down her cheeks. “You’re right, Waverly. I failed you,” she agreed dejectedly.

“You didn't fail me,” Waverly tried to console after a beat.

Nicole scoffed. The mere suggestion that she wasn't at fault for not seeing that there was something more sinister going on with Waverly for over a month was absolutely absurd. “If I can’t protect the one person I care about most in this world, there’s no way I’ll be able to take on the responsibilities of being sheriff.”

“I’m not an ordinary citizen of Purgatory, Nicole.”

“So, I’m good enough to break up drunken fights at Shorty’s and shovel snow from the sidewalk in front of Sue Carson’s bakery, but I’m not good enough for you.”

It was a statement, not a question. A tiny part of Nicole always feared that one day Waverly would come to her senses and leave her. What could a brilliant woman like Waverly ever see in a rookie officer like her? It didn't help matters when Wynonna would chime in and say things like Waverly was a good faker, Nicole was putting too much pressure on Waverly, and that she was acting like Waverly’s keeper. She still was a little fuzzy on whether it was really Wynonna that said and believed those things or if it was the demon talking or if it was a combination of the two. Regardless of whom said and thought what, it got into Nicole’s head and made her doubt herself and her relationship with Waverly even more than she already did.

“I didn't say that.”

“You didn't have to,” Nicole sniffed and wiped at the tears that had collected near the right corner of her nose.

A second later, Waverly’s knee-high furry boots came into Nicole’s field of vision and a gentle hand was placed on her left bicep.

“Nicole, look at me,” Waverly lightly prodded.

Nicole shook her head and lowered her chin even more. She didn't want to look into Waverly’s eyes and see her nightmares coming true. She didn't want to see the regret that Waverly felt for having been with her. If she didn’t look up, she could pretend that things weren’t ending for a just little while longer.

“Please.”

Waverly’s simple request tore at Nicole. While she didn't want to face what was about to happen, she also knew it was going to with or without her compliance. Closing her eyes, she picked her head up. Only when her nerves were firmly steeled did she open her eyes. What she saw surprised her. Waverly wasn’t looking at her with disappointment or hatred. Instead, her brown eyes were filled with tears and something akin to love and concern.

“There’s no one I want to be with but you, Nicole Haught,” Waverly confessed.

It took a moment for Nicole to comprehend what Waverly had just said. When she did, she let out a gleeful cry and surged forward to wrap her arms tightly around her girlfriend’s midsection. Her tears came freely in a release of all of her pent-up despair.

“You still want to be with me even after I let you down?” Nicole asked desperately needing the reassurance.

“Of course I do, but Baby, you didn't let me down. I’m the one that did that to you.”

Nicole pulled back from Waverly to look at her in confusion but didn’t let her go. “What do you mean?”

“I was so concerned about protecting you from Black Badge that I didn't think about how it would make you feel.” Waverly looked ashamed and pulled away from Nicole to walk back towards the couch and reclaimed her seat.

Nicole frowned in curiosity then followed Waverly, sitting on the cushion beside her but allowed some space to be between them. “Why did you think I needed to be protected from Black Badge?”

“If you had seen what I saw when I was in there, you wouldn’t have wanted me involved with them either,” Waverly sighed heavily. “It was horrific, Nicole. Those people are barbaric … it was brutal what they did to Eliza. If they could do that to someone they worked without a second thought…,” Waverly trailed off as her bottom lip quivered and she couldn’t hold back her tears any longer.

“Oh Baby,” Nicole said and erased the space between them to comfort her despite her blood turning ice cold at the intense fear she felt herself. Black Badge, a Federal Law Enforcement Agency, had harmed or killed the woman that had been working with Dolls and they did it in front of Waverly. Who the hell were these people?

“I don't know what I’d do if I lost you. I couldn't take the chance that they’d kill you if things didn’t go the way they wanted,” Waverly sobbed into Nicole’s shoulder.

“Shhhh, Baby. It’s ok. It’s ok. I understand.”

Nicole realized now that Waverly hadn’t cut her out of the action on purpose. She had been placed into a situation that only had one option. She did what she had to do in order to make sure no one else ended up like Eliza. Waverly lied to Black Badge. She lied at great personal risk to make sure that Nicole stayed safe. And here Nicole was feeling crushed at being the odd one out. She felt thoroughly ashamed of herself for it.

“That was very brave of you to lie to them to save me. Thank you,” Nicole whispered in her ear before she gave her a light squeeze and gently kissed the top of her head.

Waverly snuggled closer to her girlfriend and let out a deep breath. "I wish I didn't have to be brave anymore. I wish this stupid curse was over and we could just live our lives. Things are just getting more and more complicated and I don't know if I’m strong enough to step up and deal with it by myself.”

“Hey, you are the strongest person I know. And I’m always here for you. I might not know what’s going on, but you will never be alone,” Nicole said as she absentmindedly started running her hand through Waverly’s long, brown locks.

“I wasn't strong enough to tell you that I was being possessed.”

Nicole’s brow furrowed. She had wanted to ask Waverly why she hadn’t told anyone about the demon controlling her last night, but she didn't, deciding that Waverly had been through enough for one night and needed to rest rather than be bombarded by questions. But now, Waverly had opened the door to the conversation.

“It couldn't have been easy to keep it from taking complete control of you,” Nicole spoke softly. She wanted to start off easy and work her way up to the harder questions that were on her mind.

“It wasn’t. It was a constant battle back and forth,” Waverly answered in a solemn voice. “I could always feel it chipping away at me, little by little until it got what it wanted.”

“How were you able to take control again?”

“I thought about you and Wynonna and what would happen to you if I gave in completely. Other times it just let me, like it was toying with me; trying to show me that I wasn't in control at all.”

“Why didn't you tell anyone?”

“Because it told me that if I did, it would kill that person. I couldn't take the risk to see if it was bluffing or not.”

“How…How much of the last seven weeks has actually been you?” It pained Nicole to ask Waverly that question, but she had to know. She had to know if the demon had interfered in their relationship. She waited with bated breath for Waverly to answer, her heart hammering away in her chest.

“It was me most of the time.”

“Most of the time?” Nicole prodded. She wasn't exactly sure if Waverly knew what she really was asking about.

“I’d blackout at least twice a day. When a case came along, it would happen more often, like four to five, if it really wanted to know what Black Badge was up to.”

“What about when…we were together?” Nicole attempted to clarify.

“Yeah, it happened a few times while we were together.”

“Did it happen at any time we were up in your room a few weeks ago?” Nicole tried again.

Waverly pulled back to look at her then, comprehension finally dawning on her and Nicole’s cheeks burned red in embarrassment under the weight of her gaze.

“That was all me, Nicole,” Waverly blushed herself.

“Every time?” Nicole asked hoping upon hope that it had been.

“Uh-huh,” Waverly confirmed and flashed Nicole a coy smile before walking her fingers up Nicole’s chest and adding, “Every. Single. Time.” She ended with her finger’s under Nicole’s chin and she gently started to pull Nicole towards her, pausing when their lips were just a hair apart.

Nicole trembled in anticipation of their impending kiss. Kissing Waverly was one of her favorite things to do. The softness of her girlfriend’s lips under hers, the way Waverly would frame her face with her hands, it was always unhurried and sensual. With just one kiss, Waverly would always send a delightful tingle coursing throughout Nicole’s body and caused her to forget exactly where she was and what she had been doing only moments before.

Nicole couldn't hold back the throaty moan that escaped her when she finally felt Waverly’s lips against her own. It hadn't been that long since they had shared a kiss, but with their fight earlier and her thoughts about Waverly leaving her, this kiss felt even more breathtaking than usual. It was as if Waverly was making a promise to Nicole that she wanted this, wanted her, for as long as Nicole would have her — even if that meant forever.

Waverly teased another moan from Nicole when she slid her tongue along her bottom lip, seeking permission to deepen their kiss. Nicole enthusiastically obliged, enveloping Waverly in her arms and opening her mouth a little wider to grant Waverly’s tongue entrance. Their passion burned hotter when Nicole took more control and tugged Waverly into her lap and inched her fingers under Waverly’s green sweater to stroke her sides before slipping further up to dance over the expanse of her back.

Nicole had Waverly whimpering above her when she transitioned her hands around to her stomach and climbed higher to ghost the underside of her satin encased breasts. She held back from going any further until Waverly gave her consent. She received it in the form of a deep growl and Waverly breaking off their kiss in order to stand in front of her and strip off her own sweater, tossing the garment somewhere off to her left.

The sight of Waverly’s lithe body half bared to her eyes caused Nicole’s breath to catch in her throat and her jaw to drop. Her pulse raced as her hands itched to touch every inch of smooth skin. When she came to look at Waverly’s face, she found her watching her with a mischievous smirk and Nicole’s cheeks turned pink at having been caught ogling.

Waverly grinned even more, then lifted a finger, beckoning Nicole to her. The simple action sent Nicole into overdrive and she sprung from the couch to await her next instruction. She didn't have to wait too long. Waverly turned to her right and started walking down the hall to the bedroom, sashaying her hips as she went. Nicole let out a cry of pleasure before she bit her lip and followed after her girlfriend.


End file.
